Bow Wow

"It's a fine thing to rise above pride, but you must have pride in order to do so. "

Georges Bernanos

Before I moved to Korea back in the mid 90's I spent nearly 3 years hanging about in Korean karaoke bars, restaurants and clubs in Toronto. That made bowing a familiar sight in my daily life. Subsequently while in Korea it was of course even more ubiquitous. It was something that gave me pause. Many westerners, I noted, willingly bowed without qualm or hesitation. It was not quite so easy for me, though I could not at first verbalize what made me uneasy. After some consideration I did manage to come up with the following:

It seems to me there are 3 forms of physical greeting.

1. Hugging.
Not much needs to be said about this. It is simply the physical expression of affinity between intimates. I am all for hugging. The more, the better.

2. Handshakes.
Shaking hands is interesting. Its essence is simple. It is done with the right hand - the weapon hand. It is simply an extension of an EMPTY weapon hand to say "See? No weapon. I am not here to threaten you, but to greet you."

3. Bowing.
What does a bow express? Easy. Subservience. A bow says "You are my superior. I offer you my exposed neck so that you may cut off my head, if that is what you wish." It is the human equivalent of the vanquished wolf tossing back its head to expose its throat to the victor. It is begging for mercy.No wonder that many westerners, especially Americans, feel queasy at the thought of bowing.

There is one area other than the social, business, or political in which we find bowing everywhere, of course. Religion. It was this that got me to thinking about bowing today. I read the following in "Complete Idiot's Guide to Zen Living":

"Some people find it degrading, not in the spirit of Zen, or even idolatry to bow to figures of the Buddha or other Buddhist figures. Actually such suppication is meant to remind the practitioner that the self isn't important. It is like a litmus test for the ego. If your ego gets inflamed about bowing, it probably needs taming. Many Zen Buddhists go without bowing, however, and it certainly isn't a requirement."

This came as some relief. I simply loathe icons and the thought of bowing to one turns my stomach. Endless genuflection, along with ascribing supernatural events or powers to the Buddha, has always made me turn away from a practice (NOT a religion) that otherwise has always held enormous appeal. (I sometimes think that some Buddhist monks are perhaps the only truly sane human beings on earth.)

So, what's the upshot of all this? How did I come to deal with bowing in Korea during my 8 year sabbatical? Actually it became quite simple. I decided that I would quite readily bow - to anyone who bowed first or was likely to bow back. This simplified life enormously.

Of course, should Queen Elizabeth decide to come a calling I will be faced with a dilemma once again. Actually, not really.